


Two Words to Break It

by Snow



Category: Firefly
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-16
Updated: 2011-08-16
Packaged: 2017-10-22 16:21:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/240028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snow/pseuds/Snow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Three times Kaylee hated her ship</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Words to Break It

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ailelie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ailelie/gifts).



> Written as comment-fic and unbetaed.

1.

"Can I buy you a drink?"

Kaylee glances up into the eyes of one of the cutest men she's had the opportunity to look over recently, and a bright smile touches her lips. "Make it a stout and you can have my attention as well."

He has cropped black hair, a face that looks a bit like an egg held vertically, and warm brown eyes. The edges crinkle as he nods at her. He returns a couple seconds later to set something that looks decently dark and with a bit of a head in front of her, and something much paler in front of himself as he takes the seat next to Kaylee. "I'm Souje."

"Kaylee." Kaylee takes a sip of her beer and nods approvingly. "So what do you do, Souje?"

"Not talk to cute girls as much as I'd like to, unfortunately, though tonight's a very welcome exception. I own a shop on this world." He's easily charming, coming off as being interested in her without giving off creep vibes, or the impression that he was more invested in coming off as smooth than in being honest with her.

"The Chrissy?" Kaylee asks. That would be...unfortunate, to say the least, since that's the company Mal would be breaking into the stores of come morning, and there were many unsavory rumors about their business practices.

"No, no. They're owned by an off-world corporation, and they're trying to put anything local out of business. Mostly on general principle, I think. No, I own and operate Vancouver Grocery. It's mostly local stuff, if you haven't spent much time on this planet it's unlikely you'd have stumbled across it."

Kaylee gives Souje a relieved smile. "Vancouver. That's an odd word. What's it from?"

"A country from Earth-That-Was, I believe. So, Kaylee." He smiles warmly at her. "What do you do?"

"Oh!" Kaylee finds it easy to return his smile with one even brighter. She keeps her hands from running nervously through her hair by having another sip of her beer. "I'm an engineer. On one of the ships in port right now."

"How long have you been here?" he asks.

"Three days," Kaylee says.

"Bored of it already?"

Kaylee laughs. "I like places like this. When I know that I'm still free to leave. I sort of belong in space."

Souje is perfect, and Kaylee has every intention of sleeping with him. She's been responding to his flirting with her own, so she's quite certain they're agreed that sex is on the menu. She's just having such great conversations that she doesn't want to move on to the next stage yet. It's a surprise when the bar starts to make motions to kick everyone still there out. Kaylee's on her third beer, and only peripherally aware that enough time has passed to make that a perfectly reasonable amount of drinks to have had. She drains the last of it, then stands, leaning in to meet Souje's lips with hers.

"Your place or mine?" she asks.

"Yours," he says, standing and resting his arm around her waist as they leave the bar. "That is, if that's--"

"It's good," Kaylee says, and it should be, except that when they get to the Serenity he stops, staring.

"That's...a very ugly ship," Souje says, with a laugh that says he's trying to share a joke with Kaylee.

In that instant Kaylee hates him so much, and hates the Serenity. Sure, she's a beautiful ship, but maybe if it were a _little_ easier to see that, then Kaylee wouldn't have to spend so much time not getting laid. She was _so_ close, and then Souje had to ruin it by being an idiot, and there's no way Kaylee can sleep with him now, but he'd been so sweet and wanting her and sometimes it's just so nice to be _wanted_.

"I'm sorry," he shouts after, as she storms off.

Kaylee turns to look back at him. "Me too," she says. "Sorry that I wasted an evening talking to you." She leaves him still standing there, and goes back to the Serenity.

2.

"How much are repairs going to cost?" Mal asks Kaylee.

She tells him, wishing she had a different number to give him. One that was less than a quarter of the one she did have.

Mal swears. "We don't have that kind of money, Kaylee," he says. "It's frustrating, because Kaylee _knows_ that. "Hell, it'd be cheaper to buy a whole new ship," he continues. "We're going to have to stick to Persephone and take jobs from here for...the next six months or so."

Kaylee scowls. "We can't do that, cap'n."

"Can you make it cost less?"

"No."

"Then it's really our only choice."

Kaylee sighs. She's not happy about this, but she doesn't want to be trapped on the ground for half a year either. "We could sell the Serenity and buy a new ship."

Mal glares at her. "Not an option."

"I don't want to stay on the ground, Mal," Kaylee says. "That's not what I signed up for, and River and Simon--"

"Both have their names temporarily cleared. Don't worry, I don't intend to send River out on jobs with Jayne, Zoe, and myself."

Kaylee's eyes narrow, accusing. "But you _thought_ about it."

"I have to consider all possibilities, Kaylee. As I was saying, Simon can work in a hospital. He's qualified, and he's bored just staying on the ship." Mal gives Kaylee a look she isn't certain of how to interpret. "He likes helping people, it's not going to be a hardship for him."

"It's a hardship for me, Mal."

"But you'd rather sell the Serenity for _scrap_. It's our _home_."

"I like the Serenity, don't give me that. But it's not the end of the world. It's not worth being trapped for."

Mal continues glaring. "I'm glad you're not the Captain, then, because you don't see that sometimes sacrifices are worth making for the longterm good of everyone."

Kaylee looks up at the sky, and doesn't stop looking up for another seven months, until the Serenity can have a new engine and Kaylee can be back where she belongs, among the stars.

3.

"We're going to die," River says, and Kaylee wishes she could say something reassuring like 'No, of course we're not,' but River's been calling her on her lies for the past couple of hours, and Kaylee's grown tired of repeating them. They're not helping anyone feel any better.

"Maybe we could take the shuttles," Simon says.

"We're going to space ourselves," Jayne says. "All of us. There's really no other choice than that. Unless you'd rather let the Reavers do what they want to do to you while you're still alive."

Kaylee clings a little closer to Simon's hand with her own. "There's still a chance they'll stop pursuing," she says.

"And there's a chance that reincarnation is true and we'll all come back as butterflies in a Companion's garden," Jayne snaps. "But it's a pretty damn slim chance. We're going to die in this ship."

Kaylee starts crying, and she can feel River's fingers comb through her hair. "I don't want to die," Kaylee says.

"We don't have much of a choice," Mal says. "Running won't do us any good at all."

Kaylee squeezes her eyes shut. She's pretty sure no one is faulting her for crying, but she doesn't feel sad or any of that. She's angry. She always thought she'd die in space, but she thought it would be sudden and bright, not this sitting around, waiting and praying that maybe something will be different, while knowing that there's only a 0.1% chance of that being the case. She feels trapped, she wants to run and hurtle through space. She wants to be able to use her adrenaline to fight back, and she doesn't want to sit and pretend to be dignified while she waits to die. But that's all she can do.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, comments (including constructive criticism) are welcome and will be loved.


End file.
